Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100V 30 amp 12/24-Volt Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth)

I own many Victron charge controllers. I like these the best because: 1) They actually work with most battery banks -- 12/24/36/48, Yes 36v works. 2) Unlike the bigger more expensive units, the fuse is external and replaceable 3) You can buy 6 of these for the price of a 250/100 controller 4) If you have one big charge controller and it fails. Your whole system is dead. There is strength in numbers. Unless you NEED big high voltage strings, these are a better option in my humble opinion.

Ive been using it for a solar setup in my Subaru Outback. Its been good but not great for name brand electronics. Easy to use unit, but more targeted at contractors and installers rather than DIYers. Theres astoundingly limited tracking for modern hardware and no way to write a customized charging program. Just a handful of dropdowns and numbers to tweak. It also eats up a surprising amount of power on its own (50+Wh/day with PV unplugged and nothing rbeing powered), perhaps due to outdated/low end bluetooth hardware. My watch, on the other hand, regularly passes info back and forth With all this wasted power it doesnt even update my phone with the latest stats for offline viewing. Ive tried to find ways around these limitations, but the software isnt very flexible. I picked a name brand controller assuming their dozens of similar products would have given the software time to mature. I was mistaken and wish I had picked a cheaper option.

I do love this unit, but I have a major problem with the business model. Victron sells a battery monitor for hundreds of dollars that you have to buy to track the state of your battery (unless a voltage reading is enough for you). But there is absolutely no reason why the functionality of the battery monitor could not be written into the firmware of the MPPT if you are using a single MPPT to charge your battery and have no loads connected directly to the battery. The MPPT is already tracking current in and out of the battery and is, in fact, the device controlling that flow. You can read the instantaneous values in the app. But they decide not to go one tiny step further and allow you figure out the Ah left in your battery by tracking these values over time. This is very frustrating because the battery monitor costs more than the MPPT, yet the MPPT is already physically capable of monitoring the battery. I have enjoyed using the product, but will steer away from Victron as soon as a decent alternative pops up because of the business model. EDIT: the single reason I wouldn’t buy this again is because the screw terminals are so frustrating to use. I can’t understand why they would go cheap on such a simple component. I had to buy a special screw driver to access (electricians screwdriver with narrow, deep shaft). And even with the right screwdriver, I often struggle to get it the bite down unless i can get in and visualize the mechanism. It only effectively bites stranded wire, almost impossible to use solid copper.

Just replaced brand new epever 40amp with Victron… what a world of difference!! Maybe epever was defective, not sure, but this controller charged up my battery in an overcast day faster than the epever did in a week. Would not hesitate to buy again

I have several of the 30A models and was amazed at the range the Bluetooth on those models. Unfortunately, this 50A model has about 1/10th of that range. In my testing if you move more than 3 to 5 feet away from this model you will lose your connection. Otherwise, it is typical Victron quality.

Due to the wiring nightmare to make it work between the trailer and truck.

I have this on a small pico hydro unit and it works well. the app is nice, its easy to use. 4 stars, not 5 because the bluetooth connection, while good, limits the usefulness of the app, would be better on wifi, and because its somewhat limiting in what you can do with it, and limited configuration without buying a bunch of other victron equipment, but if all you need is a plug and play small controller, this one is nice, its super small, looks good, and works well.

Haven’t actually hiked solar panels you, but did hook to my battery bank a set the units (2) up. The setup and networking via the iPhone app is awesome. I set mine up with on/off switches between the solar panel lines and controllers. Also setup an on/off switch between the controllers and the shared battery leads. I think this setup will be perfect and allow me to place a quick disconnect at my battery box for a portable unit or fixed while being stored in addition to my fixed rooftop unit to the second controller. I had heard a lot of really good reviews on the Victron units and so far I’m very happy with my choice.

Two days in a row. At dusk and still showing 1.5 amps of charge. My PWM controller shows .2 amps.

I really expected to like the Victron Smart Solar. I already own the 100/15 Blue Solar plus bluetooth dongle, and have good results with it. However, after struggling with the Smart Solar I was disappointed and returned it. In my view its a step backward from Blue Solar. If youre thinking of buying the 75/15 Smart Solar, you may want to reconsider and get the 75/15 Blue Solar and buy the external bluetooth dongle. There is really no benefit to the Smart Solar over the Blue Solar + BT dongle. You might save $10-$20, but you end up with an inferior product in many other respects. First, the integrated bluetooth range is much less than the BT dongle. Were talking 5 feet vs. 20 to 30. This also gets to the heart of my main gripe: Victrons choice of Bluetooth transceiver. Theyre using newer BLuetooth Low Energy technology (BLE) vs older but more widely supported BT 4.0, as used in the external dongle. In my view it wasnt a good move. BLE, is not supported by the majority of BT enabled devices. If you want to use iOS or Android, be aware that even if they have BT, they will likely NOT work with the Smart Solar bluetooth! Obviously this isnt a good selling point and Victron sales literature doesnt warn customers about this ahead of time. Youll end up downloading their app and get frustrated trying to connect to the controller, and eventually learn that your 1 year old device wont work with it. Nearly every device in the world with BT will work with BT 4.0, but Victron went with the BT low energy and gave up compatibility with the majority of the worlds devices. Was that a smart decision? Well they saved a few cents per controller, and I suppose low energy in theory saves some power. But, the charge controller is NOT lacking for power. Its either getting power from a PV array or a presumably large battery, not a tiny batteries where BLE might be useful. I would much rather have 20-30 foot range and use a few more micro watts of power than need to stand 5 feet from the controller. And youll find with Android, that BLE *requires* that you enable location/GPS for the Victron Connect app to work! No kidding. Victron says they dont care about your location, and probably dont. But youll need to accept that and enable location services to use their app with Smart Solar. With Blue Solar and the external dongle its not necessary. This is forced on everyone by Google/Android not Victron, but again, the choice of using BLE was Victrons. Finally, IMO the 100/15 is better constructed than the 75/15, albeit at a higher price. The 100/15 has an external heat sink and the 75/15 does not. That could be a benefit in a hot environment like the desert. You may want to take a look at it. The next step up is 100/20 which also has an external heat sink like the 100/15. All of these have separate load terminals which is really useful because the controllers have a configurable low voltage disconnect (via the app) and can also track how much power the load is actually using. When you get over 20 amps, for example 100/30 amp controllers and up, they do not have separate load terminals. Update: I measured the current draw of a Blue Solar 100/15 and Smart Solar 100/20. Connected to battery at 12.8v. No PV or load connected, and not connected to app via BT. Blue Solar 100/15: 24 mA. With BT dongle 25.5-26 mA Smart Solar 100/20: 34 mA. With BT dongle 35-36.5 mA I dont have numbers for the 75/15, though its likely not more than above. The point is, the BT 4.x dongle takes only 1 to 1.5 mA. Unless youre using a 15 amp MPPT controller with a battery bank the size of a coin cell battery, the BT dongle is the way to go (IMO).